Giro d'Italia: Démare victorious in Villafranca Tirrena as Thomas drops out

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Arnaud Démare (Groupama-FDJ) continued his rich vein of post-lockdown form with victory on stage 4 of the Giro d’Italia, pipping Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) and Davide Ballerini (Deceuninck-QuickStep) in a photo finish in Villafranca Tirrena.

The French champion, who had won 10 races since the season resumed in August, survived the long climb of the Portella Mandrazzi half-way through the stage to earn his ticket for the finale.

Not all the sprinters did, as Sagan’s teammates set a strong tempo on the 12.4km climb to thin out the peloton. While Elia Viviani (Cofidis) worked his way back after a long chase, Colombians Fernando Gaviria (UAE Team Emirates) and Alvaro Hodeg (Deceuninck-QuickStep) would never see the front of the race again, despite a frantic effort all the way to the closing kilometres.

Groupama-FDJ had come to the fore in the final 20km to keep Gaviria at bay and, despite a charge from Israel-Start Up Nation in the closing kilometres, took control of the run-in. Miles Scotson hit the front with a kilometre to go and, getting a gap through a tight left-hand bend, turned it into an improvised attack that forced Viviani’s lead-out man, Simone Consonni to chase and effectively lead out the sprint.

Sagan was the first to hit out with around 200 metres to go, with Démare going to the left of him and Ballerini to the right. Sagan had the early advantage but they all came together on the line and Démare won it by the tightest of margins. Behind that line of three, Viviani had to settle for fifth, with Michael Matthews (Sunweb) eighth.

“I thought I was second or third and then they told me I won,” Démare said after a long wait for officials to review the photo finish and confirm the second Giro stage win of his career.

“I have luck on my side. It’s special. It was the bike throw that made the difference.”

Joao Almeida (Deceuninck-QuickStep) retained his pink jersey and indeed extended his overall lead, going head-to-head with Jonathan Caicedo (EF Pro Cycling) for the bonus seconds and the second intermediate sprint. The two were tied for time ahead of the stage and, despite Caicedo’s best efforts to grab pink, Almeida got the better of him and now leads the race by two seconds.

How it unfolded

172 riders lined up for the start in Catania, and the big news of the morning was that Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers) was not among them. After crashing in the neutral zone on stage 3 and losing 12 minutes by the summit of Mount Etna, the Welshman underwent further scans on Tuesday morning and, despite his bike being set up outside the Ineos bus, he was diagnosed with a pelvis fracture and packed his bags.

The Giro rolled on without him, and the stage began with three riders going clear right from kilometre-zero to form the breakaway of the day. They were: Simon Pellaud (Androni-Giocattoli-Sidermec), Marco Frapporti (Vini Zabu-KTM), and Kamil Gradek (CCC Team).

They built a lead of four minutes as a number of crashes occurred in the peloton, with Ineos’ Ben Swift among the fallers, but no one was forced to abandon. The first of the two intermediate sprints, which offered points for the maglia ciclamino classification, came at 55.8km and, after the breakaway snapped up the first three lots of points, Gaviria got the better of Matthews from the bunch, with Sagan and Diego Ulissi (UAE Team Emirates) also up there.

Soon after, the Portella Mandrazzi started, and Sagan’s team got to work, setting a strong pace through climber Matteo Fabbro. After five kilometres or so, Gaviria found himself in trouble, and it was soon the case for Viviani and Hodeg. Demare, meanwhile, rode assuredly in the middle of the bunch, all the way to the top.

At the summit, Pellaud skipped clear of Gradek and Frapporti to take maximum mountains points, and he turned it into a solo breakaway as he maintained an advantage of little over a minute all the way down the wet and treacherous descent. He lost more and more time on the flat and only just survived to the intermediate sprint with 25km to go. That’s where Caicedo looked to ambush Almeida for the maglia rosa, but the Portuguese rider had strong support from Ballerini and was able to take first place from the bunch for two bonus seconds, with Ballerini snatching the final one.

Groupama-FDJ then started to work in order to keep the sprinters at bay. Viviani had just made it back in, but Gaviria and Hodeg were in a chase group frantically led by UAE Team Emirates at 30 seconds or so. Despite getting so close, the pace at the head of the peloton ensured they never got closer and they threw in the towel with 6km to go.

Israel-Start Up Nation came to the fore with three riders in the last 3km but FDJ took to the front once more under the flamme rouge. Scotson led through the left-hand bend onto the home straight and FDJ switched their approach in an instant. Consonni chased, before Jacopo Guarnieri did a brief turn ahead of Sagan opening the sprint. The three-time world champion, who has not won since July 2019, looked to have moved clear but faded at the last as Démare snatched it on the line.